Poes, Fire and Dreams
by singersongwriter
Summary: A short fanfic about what could have happened between Luke and Lorelai the night she spent at Luke's during season three.


So I was watching "A Tale of Poes and Fire" the other day, and I thought (for like the millionth time) that it would have been a perfect opportunity for our star-crossed lovers to get together. This is my first (and quite possibly my last) fanfic. It's really more of a weaving of elements of that episode with a couple other classic Luke and Lorelai scenes…some verbatim quotes, others that I tweak a little to make things flow. Feel free to review if you want. Standard disclaimer applies of course. The characters aren't mine (and neither are a bunch of the words).

**Poes, Fire, and Dreams**

_After hanging up with Rory, Lorelai realized that Luke was her only option. She knocked briskly on the door of the diner while calling out to him. Then she decided to throw a rock to get his attention._

"_Luuuuuuke!!!"_

_Finally, Luke opened the window. "Who is that?"_

"_It's Lorelai…"_

"_What are you doing down there?"_

"_Enjoying some air, getting some exercise, and freezing!"_

"_Well…go home."_

"_Home…I have no home. Haunted, despised…"_

"_What?"_

"_It's from Ed Wood, the movie."_

"_Have you gone bonkers?"_

"_People are bunking at my place, and I need somewhere to stay."_

"_And it just occurred to you now to look for a place."_

"_The stupid Hadelstadts showed up."_

"_Who?"_

_Suddenly the window next door opened, and Mrs. Slutzky made her annoyance known._

"_PIPE DOWN OUT THERE!"_

"_Go back to bed Mrs. Slutzky."_

"_Don't talk to me that way, young man!"_

"_Throw your keys down."_

"_I will NOT!"_

"_No, Luke, Mrs. Slutzky…"_

"_I'll just come down."_

"_Do SOMETHING!"_

"_Ditto."_

"_I'm coming down…" Luke said as he left the window for the diner door._

_Lorelai offered a slight explanation to the angry older woman, "My, my inn caught fire…" The woman didn't seem interested. "Hurry, Luke…" Lorelai mumbled._

_Later…_

"_Uh…don't do that," Luke said as he leaned over the bed, attempting to tuck a clean sheet under the mattress, while Lorelai tried tucking in the other side._

"_Don't do what?"_

"_Don't pull the sheet back after I pull it, I need more for this side." _

_The two silently worked at the bed for a moment longer, but Lorelai again yanked the sheet away from Luke's side of the bed._

_Luke sighed, "You pulled it back again."_

"_Ok, I need it for my side."_

"_I need it to tuck it in."_

"_Same here."_

Both stood up on their respective sides of the bed. Lorelai flashed a little half grin at Luke and pulled the sheet toward her. Luke pulled it back in his direction, determined not to let her win this little game.

"Give me the sheet," Luke directed.

"I shan't," Lorelai teased.

The tug-of-war continued until Lorelai caught Luke off-guard by letting go of the sheet just as Luke was pulling it toward his side of the bed. Luke fell down hard causing Lorelai to erupt in laughter.

"I can't believe you actually fell!" Lorelai managed to say amidst her laughing. She walked over to Luke and offered him her hand.

"Very funny," Luke grumbled, but he couldn't resist the opportunity for a little payback. As soon as Lorelai grabbed his hand, he pulled her down too, and she landed with a thud on the floor next to him.

"That," Luke paused for effect, "is what you get."

"Touché."

The two moved in the same direction to stand up, and, in doing so managed to get a little closer than either of them anticipated. They paused, realizing it was one of their "moments," but this time something was different. They were alone, at night, in Luke's apartment. Luke noticed that Lorelai's eyes looked particularly intoxicating, and before he thought much more, he leaned in to kiss her. If this was something that surprised Lorelai, she did not show it. She responded quite naturally, and the two kissed slowly and passionately for several seconds until the phone abruptly interrupted them.

"Ummm…I should get that, I guess," Luke stammered.

"Yeah…yeah, you should," responded Lorelai as she stood.

Both were clearly surprised about what had just taken place, and Luke did not say anything as he got to his feet and walked to the phone.

"Hello," he answered absently. "Oh hey Nicole…"

The gravity of what had taken place hit Lorelai with sudden force. She sat on the bed with her head in her hands waiting for the phone conversation to end.

Luke did not speak long, "Look Nicole, I'm going to have to talk to you tomorrow. It's been a long evening. Yeah, I'll, uh, call you then…bye."

Luke hung up the phone and stood still for a moment before turning to look at Lorelai.

She didn't really know what to say. All she managed was a simple, "We kissed."

Luke didn't respond.

"You and me, we kissed."

"I was there," Luke managed to say.

Lorelai continued, "And, it was…unexpected…"

Luke put his head down. "I understand if you want to just forget it ever happened."

In spite of the gravity of the situation, Lorelai didn't hesitate, which was surprising even to herself, "I don't want to forget it happened; it was a great kiss."

"Yeah?" Luke questioned with a slight smile.

"If either one of us had been a frog there would have been some serious…" Lorelai stopped her words short. She remembered that this was not a simple situation. "So that was Nicole?" she asked instead.

"It was…it's, uh, interesting…" Luke said as he walked over and sat next to Lorelai on the bed, "…you've sort of become a sore point with me and Nicole. On our first date, I was a little nervous and wasn't having any luck coming up with topics, so I was just blabbing a lot. Then she ordered extra fries with dinner, so I told her a quick story about you and French fries. That seemed fine, and then later she ordered a third cup of coffee, and I mentioned you, and I noticed Nicole kind of reacted a little. Ever since then she's been a little sensitive to the issue. I thought she was just being silly, but…"

"But what?" Lorelai questioned.

"Now I don't know," Luke said matter of factly.

"Neither do I," Lorelai offered, "I mean there was this guy…the fishing guy, and then I ran into Max. I don't know. Nothing seemed right, but here with you…I don't know…total deja vous."

"Seriously?" Luke questioned.

"I had a dream once. You had set a ton of alarm clocks to wake me up, which is not a bad way to wake me up. Then I came down stairs, and you had made me breakfast, and you talked to my stomach."

"Why would I do that?"

"Well, because I was pregnant. With twins."

"Mine?"

"What, am I dream tramp? Of course yours."

"We were married?"

"Yeah…did I not mention that?"

"Dream go beyond that?"

"Yeah it did," Lorelai admitted. "You kissed me. And…and I was happy…more than happy."

"I've had dreams about you too, you know," Luke admitted. "I never thought they could actually happen though."

The two looked at each other for a moment, both realizing that this was an opportunity for them. Lorelai finally spoke.

"We could reenact a few of the dreams…see how it goes?"

"I think I would really like that," Luke said. "I, uh…have to talk to her first, though."

"Of course," Lorelai looked down, "whenever you're ready."

"Tomorrow. I'll talk to her tomorrow," Luke said with a sudden resoluteness.

He reached for Lorelai's hand and gave it a simple squeeze.

"Is this really happening?" he asked her.

"Yes, it's really happening," Lorelai assured him.

He smiled and stood up to tuck her into bed. As he did, he kissed her gently on the forehead.

"Goodnight crazy lady," he smiled.

"Total deja vous," Lorelai responded, and they each went to sleep believing dreams could be more than dreams after all.

Well...that was that. Let me know what you think, I suppose.


End file.
